It really doesn't. All it does is allow you to cut the line. I love Clear, and I use it all the time, but it doesn't make security faster, it just makes it faster for you. If everyone was enrolled in Clear, security would take exactly the same amount of time.
Well if people pay for it, you can have more security processors and process more people at once. So it is a parallelizable problem solvable with more money. If everyone had their own personal security processor, then security only adds a few minutes on each end.
A lineup anywhere is a sign of not enough money being paid, so people pay with their time.
I do bet that some of the fee you pay to Clear goes to the TSA, which pays for more security staff.
More poignant examples: mobile passports and global entry. Fundamentally faster (checks performed when you enroll, and then automatically, and while you get off the plane), and scalably so.
I’ve watched people attempting to use the kiosks. The TSA agents are basically just as fast in the average case, and way faster in the worst case.
The biggest delays are people who don’t have their ID and ticket ready when they get to the front of the line, and people who can’t figure for the life of them how to use the kiosks without additional assistance.
